Subdistrict boundary definition in Nakhon Phanom

Yesterday, the Royal Gazette carried the first announcement related to the administrative subdivision for quite same time - the re-definition of the boundaries of Na Ngua subdistrict in Ban Phaeng, Nakhon Phanom (Gazette). This announcement modifies or clarifies the boundaries defined in 1997, when the boundaries for all subdistricts in Ban Phaeng were defined (Gazette).

One thing which makes the two boundary definitions more difficult to compare is the fact that the coordinates in the MGRS notation are not in the same geographical datum - while the 1997 announcement used the Indian 1975 datum, the new announcement uses the now most common WGS84 datum. In the map below I added all the boundary points defined in the two announcements, but skipped to try to read and interpret the full boundary description to draw the boundary line itself. Apart from two additional points in the southern boundary to Phon Thong, the main difference is the boundary in the north with Phai Lom subdistrict. Interestingly, the new announcement does not redefine the boundary of that subdistrict, either because it is self-evident that the change affects both, or a second redefinition is still pending its publication.

TAO offices in Nakhon Phanom on youtube

I was looking for the website of one of the TAO in Mueang Nakhon Phanom district, a found the blog mueangnakhonphanom - which however does not look like a real blog, but an attempt to use blogspot as free webspace provider. But nevertheless, the many photos there include some of the TAO offices, and also for some subdistricts it includes village lists.

Yet the even more interesting part was found in the sidebar - videos featuring the TAO offices within the district. The one embedded here is from Kurukhu (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลกุรุคุ).



As leknkp uploaded many videos, I have collected those on the TAO offices in a playlist, 23 videos including a few from other districts. I haven't yet seen them all in detail, which I really need to do - for example the video on At Samat shows a table with the past TAO chairmen and mayors as well as chairmen of the TAO council - data which I could not find on the website of the TAO. And I also want to find the offices in Google Earth, while it is easy to recognize the building with the help of the video, the difficult part is to know where to look - sadly I cannot find any geotags within the videos.

Another interesting video by leknkp are an interview with a TAO mayor in Na Kae district, and I am sure there are more I haven't spotted yet.

Nakhon Phanom Provincial Administrative Organization

One local administration using the internet, and especially the Google tools, to a great extend is the provincial administrative organization (PAO) of Nakhon Phanom (องค์การบริหารส่วนจังหวัดนครพนม).

The chairman of the PAO (นายก อบจ.) Somchop Nitipoj (สมชอบ นิติพจน์) has his own blog, as well as his deputy (รองนายก อบจ.) Arom Wiangkan (อารมณ์ เวียงด้าน), who blogs for more than a year already. Even more, the schedule of the chairman can be viewed as a public Google calendar, and lots of photos from events organized by the PAO are in various Picasa albums. It also has a Powerpoint presentation with the biography of Somchop.

Though I can get only very few of what is written in these sources due to my limited Thai, I wish other government entities would have a similar open way to communicate with their population.